Former Missouri Clerk Pleads Guilty to Forgery

FULTON (AP) - A former Callaway County clerk has pleaded guilty to felony forgery for stealing about $11,000 from the court in central Missouri.

Lanet Bittle pleaded guilty Friday and was ordered to repay the full amount in restitution.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that Bittle was sentenced to five years of unsupervised probation as part of a suspended sentence. If she violates the terms of probation, she faces up to seven years in prison for each of the three forgery counts.

Bittle was fired in fall 2012 after an accounting review noted the missing money.